


On the Streets of Metropolis

by misura



Category: Smallville
Genre: Community: fic_on_demand, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-06-30
Updated: 2006-06-30
Packaged: 2017-11-01 23:56:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,304
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/362718
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misura/pseuds/misura
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lex behind the wheel and Chloe behind glass that's too thin.</p>
            </blockquote>





	On the Streets of Metropolis

Back in Smallville, Chloe used to think that Lex drove the way he didn't live his life: fast and dangerous. She'd even come up with a theory about how Lex really only drove that way because he was frustrated with life, the universe and everything.

Back in Smallville, Chloe hadn't been surprised at Lex crashing his car once a month.

Here in Metropolis, she's surprised at Lex _not_ having crashed his car yet, with her in it. 

Metropolis at ten past five must look a lot like the heaven to which careless drivers go after their death, but to Chloe, who's got a license only because she wants to go places where 'public transportation' is a term in their English textbooks, it looks more like what she suspects hell to look like.

Lex is, of course, not a careless driver; Lex is never careless (or carefree, for that matter) and at the moments when she isn't busily concentrating on the existence of her immortal soul, Chloe realizes that Lex actually drives pretty safe, almost conservative. He only cuts people who wear suits and who are trying to have a phone-conversation while driving.

"And here I was, assuming Superman was some flashy guy," Choe sighs.

"He _is_ a flashy guy." Lex dodges a poodle and stops for an orange traffic-light. Behind them, someone objects to this act of cowardness by hitting his claxon. "And he's costing Luthor Corp a lot of money."

"Well, maybe," Chloe admits. "But I'm pretty sure I was wrong in thinking he flies to impress people. He just flies because it's the only way he'll get anywhere in time."

"That's no excuse for wearing spandex and a red cape," Lex, elected Most Fashionably Dressed Man of the Year three times in a row, comments.

"It's a superhero code or something." Chloe shrugs. "You're not allowed to save the world and look cool, too. That'd be unfair to the rest of us mere mortals."

"A likely explanation." The light turns green, orange and red again without Lex being able to so much as move ahead a single inch. "Be sure to share that insight with Clark."

"Clark's the exception." Chloe wonders if they're even going to make it in time to see Clark. "He's a hero, but he looks cool, too. Sort of." Clark has no sense for fashion, only it doesn't matter, since everything seems to look good on him. Lucky Clark.

"In a dorky way?" Lex suggests. "He's a journalist, you know. He's the guy who'll arrive after the worst has happened already, to ask people how they're feeling." Lex sounds bitter. Chloe hopes it's just because she's mentioned Superman; she's only gotten back for a few days, and she doesn't quite feel up to banging Lex's and Clark's heads together to make them shake hands and promise to be friends again. They've got nothing to fight over anyway; Lex is fond of Clark, and they both know it.

"Clark's different." Chloe's heard Clark's fallen in love. She wishes she'd been there; she's seen Clark having a crush, and she imagines that Clark being in love makes for an even more amusing scene. "Clark cares." The first time she'd heard Clark's become a jounalist, that made her worry. Clark cares, about everyone and everything. Chloe felt that Clark as a journalist was like a vegetarian taking up a job as a butcher. Maybe she's wrong, though. Maybe Clark can actually make a difference being the way he is.

"Maybe," Lex says, and for a moment, Chloe wants to demand if he's read her mind. "Maybe Clark just can't make up his mind about what he really wants, or whose life is most important to him."

Traffic starts moving again, inch by inch. The light turns red again soon, but this time, Lex ignores it.

"We're going to miss him, aren't we?" Chloe checks her watch. Half past five. 

"I've asked someone at the Planet to give me a call when Clark leaves. Don't worry. He likes to work late, and start early. It's one of the few things he's got in common with Lois." Lex admits that he's spying on Clark so casually that Chloe nearly misses it. She wonders what it means, and then she wonders who, of the six people on her team, sends Lex reports about how she's doing and what she's had for breakfast. 

"We should have given him a call, made an appointment to go out for dinner somewhere." Even Lex won't be able to get them a table at a restaurant that's classy enough for him to be seen in, and yet not posh enough for Chloe and Clark to feel out of place, not on a Friday evening.

Lex shakes his head. "Clark and me aren't on speaking terms at the moment."

"What? Why - no, wait, don't tell me now. Idiots." Chloe feels a headache coming up. It's been lurking around all day long, ever since she got off the plane, feeling like she's lost half a day that she could have spent sleeping.

"He won't talk to you, if he sees you with me. That's the second reason why I'll wait outside, in the car." Lex is acting very strange, Chloe decides. Lex never avoids looking his problems in the eye, not even when they're his father. Still, Clark will probably be a lot easier to pump for information, and Lex would only turn broody and obscure if she started questioning him.

"The first reason being ... " Chloe prompts.

"Lois." Lex shrugs. "I'm famous, she's a journalist. Simple."

Chloe manages not to snort. Simple, sure. Lex may be famous, and Lois may be a journalist, but that's hardly a reason for the two of them not to get along like a house on fire. Chloe's seen Lex dealing with other journalists, male and female alike. She was left wondering what Lex employs PR-people for.

"Do you think she's not good enough for Clark?" She means for it to come out teasing, lightly. Lex has known Clark for a long time, long enough to perhaps start seeing him as a close friend, no matter what stupid excuse the two of them have found for being annoyed with each other. 

"Who on this earth could possibly be good enough for Clark?" Lex fakes a grin. Chloe supposes she could have known this wouldn't be easy. "She's taken, anyway."

This is news to Chloe. She wonders if it'd be news to Clark, too; he may be hopeless sometimes, but surely even Clark wouldn't be hopeless enough to fall in love with someone with whom he doesn't stand a chance?

"By who?" Lex knows; it's in his voice. It's nothing but fair to demand him to share.

"Superman." At the speed they're moving, Chloe might have had a bit of trouble keeping up if she'd been walking with crutches. "Same old, boring story as always. He saved her, she's decided it's true love." Well, why not? Who's Lex to talk about things like that? Superman's just a guy, too; Chloe doesn't see why he wouldn't be allowed to save someone because he's got a crush on her.

"Clark's up against some pretty tough competition." Of course, Superman probably doesn't have people like her and Lex to back him up. He can't take Lois out for dinner, or buy her flowers, or just do something silly and romantic to win her heart. Superman might be tough, but when it comes to romance, he's got absolutely nothing on Clark.

Lex chuckles, without sounding the least bit amused. "We're there."

Chloe hears a clock, telling her it's six o'clock. Time to drag Clark away from his desk and talk some sense into him, before loading him down with advise and watching him and Lex make up.

"I'll be right back."


End file.
